The Cloud Atlas

By Liam Callanan

Book Overview

Set against the magnificent backdrop of Alaska in the waning days of World War II, The Cloud Atlas is an enthralling debut novel, a story of adventure and awakening--and of a young soldier who came to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385336950
• ISBN13: 9780385336956
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.3" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

"I always asked that He make me aware"

Memory, history, war, love, and the spirit world are woven together in a type of effortless dreamscape in Liam Callanan's beautiful The Cloud Atlas. As a work of fiction grounded in fact, the story is unsurpassed in its portrayal of the effects of the Japanese balloon bombs, which swept across the Pacific to the United States during the remaining months of World War 11. One of the best kept secrets of the War involved some 9,000 balloons made of paper or rubberized silk and carrying anti-personnel and incendiary bombs were launched from Japan during a five-month period, to be carried by high altitude winds more than 6,000 miles eastward across the Pacific to North AmericaTold in the first person as a type of confessional, the main protagonist Louis Belk is now an elderly priest who sits by the bedside of Ronnie a Yup'ik shaman. Ronnie is dying from too much drinking; he's a failure, a drifter who feels that all the knowledge of the world is contained in the skies, and "in an atlas of the clouds." As he watches his friend die, Louis begins to reflect on his own life as a top-secret bomb disposal specialist during World War 11 in Alaska. The focus of the story is on Louis's adventures in wartime Alaska where half-naked palm readers, rampaging drunken sailors, and lunatic captains rave in darkened Quonset huts. Where chaplains swear like stevedores and Eskimo women "can tease your entire past from your hand."While in Alaska, Louis is placed under the command of the sadistic and bitter Captain Gurley - having already lost a limb diffusing his first bomb, and embittered at being stationed in Alaska - he has an obsession to discover and collect all such bombs in the future. As the novel progresses Gurley gradually descends into a type of madness. He fumes rages and spits, as though having an incurable, old-fashioned "Edgar Allan Poe-type of madness." Gurley also has leather-bound atlas filled with maps and neat Japanese script, which Lily a beautiful young Yup'ik wants. Lily, born to a native Alaskan and a Russian father "a mother made of snow and the father made of fire" has a mysterious capacity to read people's lives; she works as a palm reader and prostitute. Louis gradually falls in love with her, before he suddenly realizes that she's already having an affair with Gurley. Lily is convinced that the atlas that Gurney possesses holds the secret words of her lost love. Though his encounters with Lily, Louis comes to question his faith, beliefs and his capacity to be a fighting soldier. As a Christian, Louis seeks to reconcile his religion with the chaos around him and through a miasma of fear he seeks answers with the local priest Father Pabich. The young soldier has spent his life trying to "get back to the precipice, chasing after intimacy and knowledge."By setting the story in Alaska and infusing the narrative with local characters, Callanan does a terrific job of showing how the native Yup'ik live. And he shows, with a storyteller's thoroughness

Don't Miss This One

do yourself a favor and read this one. Everything about it: the setting, the characters, the language, the love and the tragedy are executed to perfection. I cannot wait to see what this author comes up with next because this is just a unique read. It makes you long for an adventure/experience such as that lived by the characters of the Cloud Atlas.

fantastic first novel

It's refreshing to read a first novel by an author who isn't trapped in his own insular world. This isn't yet another novel about a confused twentysomething trying to make it in the big city. It's a big, brainy, heartfelt novel, set during World War II, that is unashamedly exciting and fun to read. Big ups to Liam Callanan.

A great start for the author

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was initially attracted by the subject of balloon bombs and the Alaskan setting. The author's excellent research would have made this book worthwhile for just those two items; however, the plot and the characters are what made this such a treat to read. Callanan has done a masterful job weaving a rich tapestry of human emotion, religion, and mysticism against a fascinating historical background. I hope I do not have to wait too long for his next novel.

Up, Up and Away

I loved this book. It was haunting and moving, while at the same time telling a fascinating and exciting story from our country's wartime past. It's clear that the writer very thoroughly researched many elements of the novel, including its setting, Alaska, and the audacious attempt by Japan to float bombs to U.S. soil. But Callanan knows another subject even more intimately -- the human heart.